This is definitely not the most trusted person in America

COLORADO SPRINGS, COLO. – One of the nation’s most influential evangelical leaders admitted Friday that he visited a male prostitute for a massage and bought methamphetamine for personal use – though he said he threw the drugs away without using them.

The Rev. Ted Haggard denied the prostitute’s allegation that the two men met for sex as often as every month for the last three years. But he did say that he had visited the prostitute for a massage and later called him more than once to buy methamphetamine – a drug used in some gay circles to heighten sexual sensation.

“I never kept [the drugs] very long,” Haggard told a TV reporter who questioned him as he was leaving his home in Colorado Springs, a short drive from his 14,000-member mega-church. “I was tempted. I bought it. But I never used it.”

COMMENTS: 16

Ironically I had just watched Dawkin’s “The Root of All Evil” in which he presents his opinion of the dangers of most fundamentalist religions to society. In this movie he interviews Tim Haggard, who comes off as an ass. An ass with a direct line to the white house.

Him get busted just strengthens my theory about the “natural” morality of MOST people that adopt fundamentalist values, specifically those that try use society to enforce those values.

Who knows…If I had strong desires that were unmoral in a greater sense, I might be quick to try to develope some strong faith in a moral structure that would give me stricter guidelines and a community of support for adherence.

Ironically I had just watched Dawkin’s “The Root of All Evil” in which he presents his opinion of the dangers of most fundamentalist religions to society. In this movie he interviews Tim Haggard, who comes off as an ass. An ass with a direct line to the white house.

Him get busted just strengthens my theory about the “natural” morality of MOST people that adopt fundamentalist values, specifically those that try use society to enforce those values.

Who knows…If I had strong desires that were unmoral in a greater sense, I might be quick to try to develope some strong faith in a moral structure that would give me stricter guidelines and a community of support for adherence.

Just goes to show that bad (in this case, false) people can do (arguably) good things. Haggard has written much of the classic literature on free-market church government, which brings love and community to people far more organically and effectively than traditional, Sunday-morning, pastor-centric church government. (Of course, it may also advance corrupted indoctrination more effectively.)

The religion of Christianity grows ever more false, abused, and corrupt, and I’m happy to see bits of it crumble away in scandals like these. But I don’t hear many complaints about people who actually live as Jesus of Nazareth lived. (The most famous recent example is Mother Teresa, but there are thousands of Jesus’ disciples around the world who are authentically living in the radical love, faith, and servanthood of Jesus’ teachings.)

Just goes to show that bad (in this case, false) people can do (arguably) good things. Haggard has written much of the classic literature on free-market church government, which brings love and community to people far more organically and effectively than traditional, Sunday-morning, pastor-centric church government. (Of course, it may also advance corrupted indoctrination more effectively.)

The religion of Christianity grows ever more false, abused, and corrupt, and I’m happy to see bits of it crumble away in scandals like these. But I don’t hear many complaints about people who actually live as Jesus of Nazareth lived. (The most famous recent example is Mother Teresa, but there are thousands of Jesus’ disciples around the world who are authentically living in the radical love, faith, and servanthood of Jesus’ teachings.)